Author: Rob Clews

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, has confirmed his attendance to The Climate Revolution on Tuesday 12th January.
 
Just weeks after the Copenhagen Summit, this is your opportunity to hear exactly what this Government will commit to and question these promises.
 
The free tickets are running out fast, book here; http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/264379/index.html
 
For more info contact 020 7553 9895 or email [email protected].

This event is being organised by the UK Youth Parliament. The UK Youth Climate Coalition will be there to run some workshops and it would be great to see you too!

Late on Friday 18th December, it was announced that the US, China, Brazil, India and South Africa had signed a “meaningful agreement” here in Copenhagen, with the possibility of the EU and Mexico signing on. In doing so, our politicians have undermined two years of progress, since an agreement to agree with the Bali Action Plan, and two weeks of intense negotiations which were severely impacted by the lack of leadership.

Two weeks ago, the nation of Tuvalu brought us to tears. Two weeks on, we are again in a similar situation for a very different reason. It is summised perfectly by a US official who leaked the Copenhagen Accord, “the new deal is not enough to combat the threat of climate change.” So how is it then a step forward?

The Copenhagen Agreement is still missing key factors. With emissions reduction targets still to be decided and because it’s an accord, it does not have any weight in international law.

Although the Copenhagen Accord does acknowledge a 2 degree celcius maximum level for temperature rises and agrees that any agreement must keep with the science, it is not fair, ambitious or legally binding. 1.5 degrees is what we are now asking for and the science has been with us for many years yet world leaders still choose to take risk after risk.

As I type, hundreds of protestors have gathered outside the Bella Center, from the International Youth Climate Movement to non-governmental organisations including Avaaz, Greenpeace and Oxfam.

I write this blog, not only to give you a brief overview of what has happened in the past four hours but to inspire you. We will not and cannot rely on top-down decision, such as the Copenhagen Accord, the change must come from the bottom up.

We will be the change that we want to see, as demonstrated by the spontaneous protests which have been sparked following the announcement of the Copenhagen Accord.  And for this reason, Copenhagen has not failed. Copenhagen has united not only the International Youth Climate Movement, it has united the climate movement as a whole.

We are one.